Last time we came to Vienna, our plans included a day trip to Bratislava, in Slovakia. People mostly go there to add a new country to their list (we wouldn’t do that …!) At the time we were too jetlagged, and it never happened. This time, with a week, it was Bratislava or Bust. It was nearly Bust.
There are three ways to get to Bratislava if you don’t drive or cycle. First we tried the boat which connects the two cities via the Danube. We pictured ourselves zipping along on the water with the wind gently ruffling our hair as the river slipped by. “Full” said the helpful woman of few words at the ticket office. Next we traipsed across town to the railway ticket office, where I waited in a long queue. “Construction works – replacement buses” said the helpful man of slightly more words. So the only option left was the bus. I grabbed tickets online and we were set for the 8.25am bus to Bratislava, returning on the 2.20pm to Vienna.
The bus drops you right under the Most SNP bridge in the centre of the city. There are two things you can’t help but notice, and they couldn’t be more different. The first is the large castle on its low hill. The second is the UFO tower atop the bridge (I think it has another name, but everyone calls it the UFO, for obvious reasons).
As soon as we left the bus stop and walked towards the old town, I knew I would like Bratislava. It had a nice feel to it straight away. We opted for a free (ie tips based) guided walking tour, something we rarely do, but should do more often. There were two tours, one covering the older history and the castle, the other focusing on the 20th century history. This was the one we opted for; having grown up with the division of Europe into east and west, and the eventual fall of the divide at the end of the 1980s, this period is very relatable for us. The group split into two, and we went with Jakub.
He was a guide who really knew his stuff; in fact he designed the tour, and is clearly passionate about sharing his knowledge, along with his personal and family experiences of life under communism. He took us chronologically from the end of WW1, facism, through the terrible events of WW2, then the arrival of the Soviets, until the Velvet Revolution and the peaceful division into Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 1993. Life in present-day Bratislava is pretty good apparently, with only 2.5% unemployment. The story that stayed with me most strongly was that the country’s leader during WW2 was a Catholic priest and an anti-Semite (not uncommon), who actually agreed to pay the Nazis to transport and slaughter his own people in their hundreds of thousands; nowhere else were these payments made. The Jewish community was completely decimated, and it has taken a long time to rebuild.
Our walk began and ended in the square where the Bratislavan demonstrations took place in 1989, along with the uprisings in Prague and elsewhere. People turned up in their hundreds of thousands, and jingled their keys to say they wanted their freedom, ie to have the country unlocked. As we know, people power finally won, and communism fell all over eastern Europe. In Czechoslovakia, it happened without bloodshed, hence the term “Velvet Revolution”.
Along the way we saw significant 20th century landmarks, as well as many examples of Soviet era and modern day architecture. We liked the upside down pyramid building, which houses Slovak Radio, and has been unfairly rated as the 17th ugliest building in the world(!) In fact its design was way ahead of its time – and I could name at least 16 uglier buildings in Melbourne, let alone the rest of the world. It was an excellent tour.
After the tour, and lunch in a nice shady spot, we visited the gorgeous Blue Church, then made our way gradually back to the bus terminal.
We enjoyed the quirky statues, including Cumil the worker peeking out of his manhole, and the dramatic contrasts in building style.
We never did climb the hill to the Castle, or make it to the top of the UFO. Bratislava was definitely deserving of more than the few hours we spent there.
dipidydoo 